I turned 29 last year and a phrase has started to work it’s way into my head. No one (thankfully) has actually used this phrase in reference to me, yet, but it still bothers me. The phrase is “Pushing Thirty.”

Now I’ve gotten my fair share of old jokes already. There’s always the best friend pointing and laughing and saying, “Ha ha, you’re old because some high school student didn’t know that song/movie/pop culture reference you just made.” This is not a sign of my age so much as it is a sign of these kids ignorance. They must be educated! Sorry, that’s not really the point, just wanted to get that out there.

We never worry about a birthday up until the big Three Zero. 29 is not a scary number. Nor were any of the numbers before that. This is really no different, it’s just a marker of how many years you’ve been on the planet. So why does it worry so many people? I have never heard of anyone “pushing 25” or any other age. No one gets freaked out over their 20th birthday* and that represents a whole 2 decades of life. So why is it that 3 decades on the planet suddenly makes you old?

We never push any birthdays that don’t end in a 0. Have you noticed this? We’re always pushing 30, or 40, and onwards until we die. And where exactly are we pushing these years to? Are we pushing them away in general? Are we pushing them over a cliff? The days are going to go by at the same rate they always have, so why do we think metaphorically pushing a specific date is going to keep it from arriving on time?

I refuse to push! I’m simply going to allow the days to come and wash over me. I have no issues with my birthdays, no matter what number they bring with them. So this year, in the beautiful month of November, I will proudly be turning… 28.

* Except my mother. On her 20th birthday she cried and when asked what was wrong she blurted out, “I’m not a teeny-bopper any more.” I’ve never made any claims that my mother is exactly stable.